Ham-fisted: Chap's radio app killed remotely after posting bad review A US ham radio software developer has admitted a support staffer disabled a customer's copy of its application after he posted a negative review online. The owners of HRD Software today told The Register they have since reinstated the user's license, claiming the revenge move was made by an outside support staffer. Here's …
> I think most companies are smart enough to realise the negative PR would cost them far more.
So you're suggesting that Oracle will probably try it?
I really hope so. I'm going to post as many damning reviews of Java as I possibly can. Then just wait until it stops working and never works again.
Maybe I should also try this with Adobe Flash??? :)
"I doubt it. This is a truly terrible way of responding to criticism, and I think most companies are smart enough to realise the negative PR would cost them far more."
But isn;t that the point of the new law referenced in the story? US companies *are* putting out T&Cs which specifically prohibit negative reviews and are taking action on them.
"I have to wonder if any of the phone/computer/OS/software companies* will try this now... the idea is out there."
In most instances, I doubt that a company could link a review to a user licence code without some awfully deep digging. In the case of the Ham radio guy, he most likely used his callsign in his email sigs, on the review, and many other public places, likely also in his communications with the company involved and so probably very easy to identify.
> Usually the support people do things according to a script
I wouldn't say "usually", especially not with smaller companies or more specialised software with a small installed user base.
Aside from that, it is not unknown for humans not to follow instructions, especially when they get emotional.
> What was HRD Software doing?
To me, and I hate to say this and sound like a busybody paper pusher (which I'm not) but reading between the lines it looks like they might have had poor processes in place. A possible solution would have been for only managers to be able to deactivate licences before they expire. Then again, it may just be that it didn't occur to them that one of their guys would go rogue (perhaps he thought he was helping). It could even be, going into conspiracy territory, that this actually came from management and now they're trying to throw someone under the bus, à la Volkswagen, who knows?
I don't think HRD is a particularly large company… so it's not like they'll have a dedicated support helpdesk that you ring up. Think more like the support you'd get from an open-source project, except that HAM Radio Deluxe is commercial software.
AFAIK their primary support is through online forums or by email, and while it's not assumed that the audience is fully computer savvy, some technical knowledge can be assumed since you need such knowledge to pass a radio license.
"...screwing with the customers just for fun..."
I just don't buy their excuse. If by "outside support staff", they mean a call center or paid help desk, I just don't believe their story.
I've worked in 2 companies with call centers, and they are pretty much sweatshops with a turnstile. Defending the honor of the company, just doesn't sound like something low paid support staff are likely to do. I'd be more inclined to believe the support people would agree with the customer.
> Defending the honor of the company, just doesn't sound like something low paid support staff are likely to do
I can't imagine what it might have been like calling this company's support line a couple centuries back when duels were all the rage (pardon the pun).
… might help if you do one of:
1. unplug the headphones
2. put them on
Yes, I own one of those radios, and it is patently obvious that something is plugged into the headphone jack right next to the microphone.
-admitting that a support staffer had disabled the customer's software key in response to the poor review.
"This does not reflect the policies or procedures of our company. But it was said. It was a mistake," he said.-
So they're claiming,It wasn't me, honest! A bad boy did it, then he ran away!"?
i watched this unfolding in real time and then archived at the Internet Archive... the IA especially made sure to archive the forum topic so that it wouldn't disappear like was attempted when the topic was deleted and the blacklist stuff was also cleared... that was last week... how did it take the Reg so long to glomb onto the situation?
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I was a mostly happy customer of a company whose originator was also CEO and chief programmer. I sent a terse email regarding a particular issue to tech support, to discover that the boss also sometimes manned the tech email. I think he got my complaint, which was fact-based, mixed up with another person's complaint which was mostly rant-based. But in the end we worked it all out. He was quick to take offence, but also quick to make amends. Aaaaah, the good old days. But events bore out the conclusion that a company founder should not moonlight as tech support.
But there are laws. (And common sense)
Most business are trying and learn (Not TalkTalk)
And another thing:
Good for waldo kitty to catch the moment... (If you don't the evidence is lost)
Good for the Reg to wait until determining some background on which to pin facts. (El Reg is, like Private Eye, one of the few places where reporting and journalism are not synonymous.)
Amateur Radio operators used to build their own rigs. From ordering an alumin(i)um chassis from Radio Spares (now RS Components), cutting holes for valves/tubes in them with Greenlee** holes cutters, then wiring up the whole thing. We even used inverted baking/roasting pans when money was tight.
What more fun than could be had than waiting in anticipation for the valves/tubes heaters to glow and for the rig to actually work!
What better hand warmer can be found than an 807 power beam tetrode valve/tube?
Many of today's Amateurs are little better than box operators and now Apps!
At least many have to erect their own HF antennae - I have a long-wire receiving antenna that runs across the farmers field next door.
P.S. If you need to cut smaller-sized holes in wood or metal few things beat a "Stepped" drill bit. Magical. And RS doesn't sell alumin(i)um chassis any more.
We all did!
I made grid bias batteries by breaking open hand-lamp batteries and taking a couple of cells out, then wrapping them in paper and insulting tape. They would last for months. I also made HT (B+) battery stacks out of hand-lamp batteries hacked together for 120V. The heater batteries were "U2" torch cells, and would be the ones that were replaced weekly - I used to buy four U2 cells with my pocket money! A little later, I started to use a 6V motorcycle battery for the heaters, and my dad built a charger to replenish the charge over night.
My receiver began as a 2-valve TRF with regeneration, and grew into a dual-conversion 12-valve monster which included three 7360 switched beam tetrodes - one for the front end mixer, one for the second mixer and a third for the product detector for resolving SSB. It's still the best receiver I've ever used!
An old friend who believes in guitars and Williamson Amplifiers (1947-1949) (featured in the late lamented Wireless World in the late 1940s) now has an audio amplifier with a pair of 807s as a final, push-pull pairs in class AB1 or AB2 giving up to 120 watts of usable power.
See: > http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/239713-low-cost-class-hi-fi-amplifier-807-s-e-ultralinear-pentode-drivers-6g6g.html < and still available > http://www.tubes-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=309 <.
The 807 was the backbone of the military. The No. 19 tank set had one; the British Amplifier No, 2 Mk 2 had a pair of 807s;
807? Pah! A pair of 813s with 2.5kv on the anodes. 100 watts just for the filaments.
I remember a conversation with (names redacted):
X: How are you getting on at your new location?
Y: It's ok but I'm having trouble with the street lights.
X: What, lots of RF noise coming out of them?
Y: No, they go out on voice peaks when I'm running full power
(He did have a 'surplus' 10 KW Marconi transmitter in his cellar).
I totally disagree that it's a dying art, it's just changing. Look up the mcHF, a complete all mode 1.8-30mhz SDR based QRP tranciever kit! Or check out the FaradayRF stuff, or any of the things currently going on with the DMR uhf radios and all the development there. I think whats going on is your seeing a change in what's being homebrewed. Instead of people making trancievers from scratch we are seeing a large amount of growth in open source and homebrewed software solutions. With SDR becoming so accessible we are only going to see more and more of this. It's pretty amazing what can be done with a 20$ DDS and a ARM processor or an FPGA now. No need for specialized crystals or single frequency designs. Now you can have a wide frequency tuning range with a cheap DDS unit.
The growth and development in the digital modes is pretty amazing as well. Check out WSPR or codec2/freedv.
For me, the most alarming - and actionable thing - is that the vendor expressly directed the customer to a special piece of software that would disable the application - presumably in concert with the key block.
What that implies is that his software was usable, though buggy, but after the installation of the 'update' the support team instructed him to install, it was rendered inoperable.
I.e. - the vendor conned the customer into installing a piece of computer code designed to negatively impact his computer and did so for the express reason of negatively impacting it. This wasn't some unintended consequence of an update/patch that was suggested in good faith: the vendor actively conned the customer into crippling the software on his PC.
...I don't see any difference between this company and the fake "Microsoft Support" guy who talks your Nan into downloading ransomware onto their PC.
I do. The company disabled only their own software, nothing else. It's still a fantastically stupid thing to do, not just because of bad PR but also because you could construe this as fraud (taking money and then remove the functionality licensed to the customer without a refund process in play), but at least they contained their stupidity to their own software and nothing more.
Things get different if you're an OS provider and screw over a system's ability to, for instance, pick up a DHCP issued IP address and do so on a global scale. That buggers up complete platforms, yet has zero consequences for the provider because you're by now used to that - they trained you into accepting utter crap and then still buy the upgrade.
I mainly have questions about the thinking of people who deem withdrawing service via remote control in any way, shape or form an acceptable reaction to a bad review. Not only is that combining a Ratner's with the Streisand effect, but it's also not a decision to be taken by a support droid.
QUOTE: "The company disabled only their own software, nothing else. It's still a fantastically stupid thing to do, not just because of bad PR but also because you could construe this as fraud "
Perhaps Samsung should think about this with respect to their mainly crippled Note 7s.
The company disabled only their own software, nothing else. It's still a fantastically stupid thing to do, not just because of bad PR but also because you could construe this as fraud
In the UK this would be illegal under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. (ss 1, 3 Unauthorised modification - Denial of access.) There have been convictions for it, some of which have even made the press.
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